Maddie let out a long sigh. “Honestly, Penelope,” she hissed as she trudged past.
Realizing Maddie was heading to the classroom, Penny shrieked, unable to stop herself. “Maddie, no! Don’t go in there, please!” she shouted and chased after her, her voice sounding high and unnatural. She ignored the sidelong glances she was getting from bystanders. “It’s dangerous―please!” Her anxiety doubled.
Maddie flashed Penny an irate glare and marched into the classroom. Penny froze and felt the blood drain from her face as the door shut behind Maddie. Just as she forced her legs to unstick themselves and move forward to rescue her friend, Maddie exited the classroom.
With a nonchalant stride that Penny hadn’t expected, Maddie joined her, Penny’s bag in hand. Dumbfounded, Penny’s lips parted in disbelief as Maddie shoved Penny’s bag at her and kept walking. With a little groan, she jolted after Maddie.
“Did―did you see it?” Penny asked in an unsure tone. “Did you see the…?” she trailed off, unable to find a word for what she had witnessed.
Maddie’s brows arched in irritation, “Listen Penny, you don’t have to pretend any more. I should’ve just gone with you. I know how anxious you can get…with your fainting spells and all.”
Penny’s frustration overwhelmed her. “I’m not making anything up! I saw something―something impossible in there! You’ve got to believe me, Maddie,” she sputtered, her nerves jangling.
“What? What was so mind-blowing, hmm?” Maddie inquired, no longer concealing the annoyance in her voice.
Penny’s expression darkened; if she tried to explain herself, she would sound insane. “It was―I don’t know―why are you so mad all of a sudden?” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“I have a pounding headache, I’m soaked through, we drove out here for no reason because apparently Arlington is blossoming into a drama-queen, and you’re trying to play some weird game that I’m really not in the mood for,” Maddie shot back.
“You saw nothing out of the ordinary?” Penny demanded, growing defensive.
“Nope! Everything was perfectly fine. He even wished me a pleasant afternoon. Must be my lucky day.” Maddie came to an abrupt halt as they stepped into the wet parking lot. “Now, do you want me to take you home or are you walking over to the shop?” she asked in a business-like tone.
Penny stared down at her worn gray low-tops and exhaled. “The shop…”
“Well, have fun at work. Bye.” She waved a half-hearted goodbye to Penny and stalked away. Penny ran her fingers through her damp hair and shut her eyes, disturbed by the possibility that what she had seen could have been the product of an unsound mind.
Penny maneuvered down the rain-slick pavement, still involved in a fierce argument with herself. The storefronts she passed were foggy with perspiration from the rain, which had eased to a light drizzle. A handful of people walked the streets of the small Oregon town with their heads down and their hoods up.
Penny settled into a state of numb disbelief and reached the decision that what she had witnessed at the college was a hallucination. It was a bitter pill to swallow.
Sleep deprivation. It must be sleep deprivation. She nodded as if trying to convince someone else as she walked past the aged community theater that from time to time hosted near-intolerable productions of plays like The Importance of Being Earnest or Annie. The marquee’s feeble lights tried their hardest to pierce the gloom, but it went unnoticed by the trickle of street traffic. On the other side of the theater stood a hole-in-the-wall coffee shop that Penny frequented when she had time or money to spare. The sputtering neon sign fixed to the front blazed the word ‘Open’ beside a litany of peeling adverts. She squinted at the sign, struck with inspiration.
A strong dose of caffeine. That’s just what I need. Penny pushed aside the shop door and was greeted by a welcome wave of warmth. She stood in line, ordered a double cappuccino, and settled at a table with a brimming cup of hot, frothy milk and coffee.
As soon as the warm beverage touched her lips she started to calm down. The rain came and went in sheets, and she busied herself watching the preoccupied pedestrians shuffle by in their trench coats and boots. Penny was just beginning to hope that she might be able to recover from the shock of her bizarre hallucination when a peculiar man strutted into the coffee shop.
A sleek, black magician’s costume clung to his frame, complete with top hat and bow tie. He stopped just inside the doorway, rainwater flowing off his hat and onto the floor of the shop, creating a mess. He peered around as if searching for something, earning annoyed looks from the employees. He was an inch or two below average height, and stroked a thin brown mustache and goatee.
Ah. Of course. A magician, Penny thought with a frown. I’m going to try not to read too much into that.
A small burst of adrenaline jolted through Penny’s already shaken system when the magician’s gaze fell on her. Oh please, no. Not me. I don’t want to be the lucky volunteer from the audience. Don’t look at me.
The man in the top hat strolled up to her table, his shiny black shoes clicking on the floor. Penny went rigid as a soft smile flowed onto the man’s lips, causing his skinny mustache to curl upwards. His hands slid into his pocket and with one fluid motion he pulled out a deck of playing cards.
“Excuse me Miss, would you be so kind as to examine these cards for me and confirm that this is, in fact, a normal deck of playing cards?” He bent over and handed her the cards, looking around at the customers in the shop in an attempt to capture their attention. A few curious people drew nearer.
Penny glanced through the flurry of hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades. The gaze of unfamiliar eyes upon her began to make her sweat, and she grew clammy as he gestured with a strained smile for her to answer.
“Uh…yeah. Um, they’re real,” Penny stuttered, hating the attention.
The man swiped the cards from her palm and spread them out in a neat fan.
“Now―pick a card, any card,” he grinned, and Penny felt her cheeks burn. She pinched the top of a glossy card from somewhere near the middle of the deck, then peeked down to see the Ace of Hearts resting in her palm. She looked into the magician’s face, awaiting further instructions. The man appeared to be only a few years older than she was, with hair a dark shade of sienna and warm brown eyes. The smile which he glinted at Penny had an irresistible, devil-may-care quality to it.
The magician put a hand over his eyes. “Now show it to the crowd without letting me see, and place the card on top of the deck.”
Penny did as she was told, and watched as he set the deck down in front of her. From somewhere within his cloak and cape, the man in the top hat produced a silver wand with a crystal set onto one end. It gleamed in the dull lights of the coffee shop as he swung it around his head while mumbling nonsensical spell words under his breath. Penny bit her tongue from laughing at his serious expression. The man struck the cards with the tip of his wand and flipped the deck over.
Every card in the deck had become the Ace of Hearts. Some scattered applause echoed around the shop and the magician grinned with satisfaction.
“Thank you, ladies and gentlemen! If you liked that, then you will be sure to enjoy the show at the Gonzago Theater, right next door! Tonight and tomorrow only, folks!”
Penny assumed he would leave then, and was astonished when he sank into the chair in front of her with a smug smile.
“Impressed?” he asked as he pocketed the deck.
“Um,” she said with a shrug, her mind racing to think of a suitable compliment. “Y-you’re a regular David Blaine?”
The magician’s expression dampened. An awkward silence descended over the table for a moment. It was this familiar sense of discomfort that always seemed to occur when Penny encountered new people. She couldn’t think of a single thing to say to the man, so she stewed in her awkwardness while staring at her knees.
“Aren’t you going to ask my name?” the man broke the silence and Penny looke
d up with a frown.
“Erm, what’s your name?”
“Glad you asked!” he chorused, regaining his sense of boundless energy. “I am Simon Shaw, master magician and illusionist extraordinaire!” The pose he struck after he finished this well-rehearsed introduction was too much for Penny. She laughed behind her hand, and the man called Simon frowned again. She stifled the laugh with a cough.
“Sorry,” Penny offered with an apologetic grin. “I didn’t mean to―you just sort of took me by surprise.” Simon’s expression softened, but he remained quiet. “Um…is there something I can do for you?”
“Oh, it’s nothing really. I just can’t stand to see a beautiful girl sitting alone on a day like this.” He shot her what seemed to be his trademark smile, and it was Penny’s turn to frown.
This is just the sort of person my mother always warned me about…
“Sorry, I’m late for work. Gotta go,” she lied, rising from the table and heading for the door.
Simon inhaled through his teeth and scrambled up behind her. Ignoring his pursuit, she walked away from the shop and turned onto Willow Street in the direction of her mother’s shop.
“W-wait! Come back!” he shouted after her, but she kept moving and pretended she’d heard nothing.
“Hold on, Penelope! Please, I need to talk to you.”
Penny stopped dead, her heart picking up what now seemed to be the popular tempo of the day. She swiveled around to see Simon staring at her. Quiet words flew from her mouth before she could cage them. “I don’t remember telling you my name,” she said, more to herself than to Simon, but he heard anyway. His expression became serious.
“I―just let me explain, don’t run,” he began, and Penny took several cautious steps backward. His eyes were wide and every muscle in his body seemed taut as he advanced on Penny, his hand extended.
Instinct took over. Penny sprinted down the slippery sidewalk, alarm sirens wailing in her head. With all the courage she could muster she shouted back at him over the slap of her wet shoes on the pavement, “Leave me alone!” In the distance a sign with the words “Willow Street Wonders” swung in the wind.
Her mother waited inside that shop; behind those walls was safety. Penny reached the door and groped for the handle, wrenching it open and bursting inside the shop as if she were riding a fierce gust of wind.
Paulina was reading behind the counter and looked up with a start, her glasses slipping off her nose and onto the glass display case. Penny scrambled behind the counter, panting. Paulina looked at her, her mouth agape. “Penny! What in the world is the matter with you? What are you doing here so early?” she asked with surprise.
Penny took several sharp breaths and fought to speak. “There’s a man coming! A magician or something,” she sputtered. “D-don’t let him in!”
Her mother’s brow furrowed and she looked at Penny with concern, and then rose to peer out the front window. “There’s nobody out there, kid.”
Penny scurried over to the window and pressed her face against the glass. The street was deserted. She backed away, befuddled.
“Two magicians came by earlier doing tricks and left some flyers. Was that who you saw? I think they’re just promoting their show,” Paulina continued in a tone that tried to comfort.
Penny exhaled and hung her head. It was the second time that day she’d come off as deranged. She kept her face as straight as she could, but she was beginning to feel sick, panicked, and vexed all at once. “Sorry. I could’ve sworn…it’s just that he…never mind,” she mumbled as she leaned against the counter.
Her mother gave her a reassuring smile and waved it off. “No big deal. You can never be too careful, eh?” Paulina handed Penny an apron, which she fastened with shivering hands. Her mother removed her own apron and bustled into the backroom through a sparkling, beaded-curtain.
“You seem better. That migraine’s all gone?” Penny inquired, her heartbeat returning to normal.
“It is, actually. Seems to have cleared up completely,” Paulina called back. Penny leaned up against the wall of the shop and inhaled. The fragrant air in the shop always had a calming effect.
The walls of Willow Street Wonders were piled high with herbal oils, scented candles, and dried sage wound into bundles. A huge trough of what Penny assumed was every type of incense known to mankind stood by the door. Bottled rosewater and glass containers of wild herbs lined the walls, glittering in the gloom. Paulina always kept the lights turned low in their shop, saying that it created a mystical ambience. Penny suspected she did this so the customers couldn’t see what a sorry state most of the books were in.
Over their eight years of business, Penny had become a bit fed up by her mother’s blind devotion to supernatural nonsense, but she had to admit there was a certain romance surrounding a life spent in the dusty, dreamlike world her mother had built for them, brick by crumbling brick. After a few moments of noisy rummaging in the back, Paulina returned holding her handbag and several books underneath her arm. She took an exhausted breath and displayed her most confident smile for Penny.
“Might as well get to the airport early, just in case,” she said.
“Isn’t it a bit too early, though?” Penny couldn’t keep the anxiety out of her voice, wondering if the magician might come poking around again.
Her mother nodded, as spirited as ever, then turned serious. “Now, you know the drill. I sent the tarot readers home early, so don’t worry about them. And please do not forget to lock up properly.”
Penny nodded, trying hard to keep from rolling her eyes. Her paranoia would never allow her to forget such things.
Paulina grinned wryly and put her hand on her hip. “Got a message for Grandma?”
Penny scoffed. “Oh, I’ve got a message for her all right, but I don’t think she wants to hear it.” Her mother gave her a reprimanding look. Penny scowled right back at her. “The woman hates me, why would I have a message for her?”
“She doesn’t hate you,” Paulina admonished with a frown. “She just―”
“I think you’ve forgotten how she refers to me as ‘the shame of the family.’ The reason ‘your life is in shambles’ was how she put it.” Penny put on a shrill voice and wagged her finger, “Where does that girl get the nerve to exist? Honestly! In my day we never dared to be born if―”
“That’s enough.” Paulina’s voice held a hint of danger, but Penny bore a defiant smile. “There’s food for you in the fridge, and please will you get to bed at a reasonable hour? Also, you might want to take one of the aquamarines with you before you go if you think that creep is still out there; they’ll protect your aura from negative energy. Oh, and if you’re feeling particularly troubled, go ahead and borrow one of the silver rune pendants we got in last week―those’ll keep you safe for sure,” Paulina insisted.
Penny snorted and nodded. “Thanks, Mom, I’ll see you Monday. Be safe, and have fun with the dragon lady.” She jumped up as Paulina was about to leave. “Oh, and don’t forget your glasses!” She plucked her mother’s glasses from the display counter and handed them to her. Paulina pulled her into a tight hug, pressed the car keys into Penny’s hand, then bustled out the door and was gone.
Penny spent the rest of her shift at Willow Street Wonders convincing herself that everything was all right.
The rainstorm banished any hope of customers dropping by. Early afternoon melted into twilight and Penny remained at her post, lost in silent introspection. She sat on the stool behind the counter as figurines of old, forgotten gods and heroes watched her with unseeing eyes. Beside them were curtains of talismans and amulets, and jeweled dragonflies perched among darks rows of incense and dried herbs. Penny tapped at the crystal ball on the counter beside her, amusing herself with the warped vision of the arabesque shop.
Prickles of worry that Simon Shaw might return nagged at her, but after a few hours of unrelenting rain, Penny started to believe that she was safe.
It hardly seems real now. Mayb
e I did imagine it…she thought and tried to whistle, but the sound died on her lips. The cloud-covered sun had long since sunk behind the mountains and shadow had swallowed up the world. The only source of light was a lamp with a stained-glass shade.
Uncomfortable, Penny shifted and grabbed a magazine from underneath the counter. The cover showed a doctored image of a flying saucer looming above some nameless desert city. Penny flipped the magazine open with reservations. When seven-thirty came around at last, she’d had enough.
Not even the zealots are going to come around in this weather, she thought as she rose and undid her shop apron. Finishing her closing duties, Penny made sure to triple-check everything before clicking off the light and locking up.
Moving through Willow Street Wonders in the dark had always been eerie, and the noise from the raging storm did not ease the oppressive sensation that made her skin rise with goose bumps. Penny walked along the walls in the darkness with her hand extended and felt her fingertips graze cold metal. From the weak glow of the streetlamps she could see fragments of silver tinkling against each other. Penny removed one of the pendants from its identical siblings. It was one of the silver rune pendants her mother had mentioned; they’d received a small shipment of them from somewhere in Europe last week. Penny examined the silver disc with runic carvings. With the reassurance of knowing no one could witness her lapse in rationality, she hung the black cord around her neck.
It is supposed to be a very powerful talisman. I’ll just borrow it for the night.
Penny drove home with her brain on auto-pilot and sloshed to her front door through the torrents of rain. She scowled as she stepped through the doorway. Her mother hadn’t left the heater on. She tossed her bag in the corner and raced upstairs to shower.
The night drifted away and Penny found herself curled up in bed with Murder at Woodrow Manor, flipping through the pages and relishing the most dramatic twists of the story. Beside her bed were a stack of novels of the same genre that she had already devoured.
The Angel of Elydria (The Dawn Mirror Chronicles Book 1) Page 2
